


The Only Exeption

by That_space_gay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dark Keith (Voltron), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining, Past Relationship(s), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, Soul Bond, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-14 16:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14140383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_space_gay/pseuds/That_space_gay
Summary: Most people are eager to meet their soul mates, from the moment most kids can talk, they’re already obsessed with finding their other half and growing old with them.Keith isn’t like most people.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so, this is my first fic here. I’m really Hyped. I’ve been formulating this idea for a while, and I think you guys are gonna love how it turns out. This fic is lightly based on “the only exeption” by Paramore. If you enjoy this fic, leave a kudos and share it with your friends!

Keith learned about soulmates at the age of only 5. He had been taught about it in his kindergarten class in the first day of school, it was considered an important lesson. They told him that you would age as normal until were to grow to be eighteen, at that point, your body wouldn’t age another day until you found your other half. It is quite a romantic way to live, at least that’s what most people seem to think.

But Keith isn’t like most people.

He also learned that it’s not all cupcakes and rainbows. if your soulmate dies before you fall in love with each other, the aging process is paused once again. He was taught not to fear, however. If this happens, your soulmate will be reborn as an entirely different person with an entirely different personality. Once they turn 18, you’ll have a chance to be with your soulmate once again.  
Most of Keith’s classmates did not seem to mind the negatives. Some were saddened by the fact that they may have to experience the trauma of their love dyeing, yes, but they tended to have an optimistic attitude.  
Keith, however, is not like his friends in that respect. He isn’t saddened by the negatives, or the positives for that matter. He was simply confused.  
Why would people care so much about another person simply because they are “bonded” by souls. Keith believed the idea was overrated. If he were to fall for someone, he would fall for them based on the quality of their character, not by the fact of soul bonds.  
He truly believed that falling in love just because of a soul bond was truly a sad way to live.  
•  
Keith is 8 when his mom leaves. Frankly, Keith knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  
His parents would get into arguments. Yelling and screaming about things that Keith found to be unimportant.  
He didn’t consider it abuse, of course. His parents loved him dearly, and the fighting never got to bad. They argued, yes, but it was nothing Keith couldn’t handle.  
That was until the last night of summer, right before the third grade.  
As usual, His parents were arguing. And, as usual, Keith was up in his room, hugging his stuffed hippo close and attempting to fall asleep.  
Only one thing was out of place. Only one thing seemed wrong.  
Keith heard a crash coming from downstairs, the sound echoing through out the entire house. Then there was silence. Painful silence.  
It took what seemed like an eternity before anyone made a sound. His mother began to weep. Keith couldn’t stand the sound of it.  
Too afraid to walk downstairs and see for himself, he drifted into a restless sleep. The next morning, when Keith woke up, she was gone. All that was there to greet him was his father, crying and refusing to speak, and a vase smashed on the floor. 

•

About 10 years pass before Keith meets his first soulmate. His name is Shiro, and he’s a few years older than Keith. When they met a first, Keith felt hesitant to get close to him. Ever since his mother left, he has severe issues when it comes to social interaction. He’s kind of a loner, some would say.  
However, Shiro seemed different. He seems kinder than his father and more forgiving than his Mother. Maybe, just maybe, Shiro is someone he can trust.  
Over time, Keith opens up to Shiro more. They seem to understand each other well. Keith, for once, is hopeful.

Keith doesn’t realize they’re soulmates at first, he doesn’t know to much about soulmates other than the basic facts. He doesn’t understand what this sudden, almost unbreakable bond between the two of them means. He doesn’t understand the sheer joy he feels when he is around Shiro means, either. They’re just close, right?  
It doesn’t click until he goes to his yearly check up at the doctors.  
The doctors report to him that his body has been aging for the past 2 months.  
It doesn’t take too long to figure out who’s causing him to age. Shiro is really his only friend, and he has known him for about 2 months.  
Keith doesn’t know what to make of this. He doesn’t- he never did want to fall in love. As a child he felt neutral about it, but once his mom left, and he saw his father screaming into the air, asking for forgiveness, he swore he would never sing of love.  
Keith likes to be alone, anyway. He enjoys life and wants to live it, even if he is alone.  
Keith, like most people, wants to be happy. But Keith, unlike most people, doesn’t need others to achieve that happiness . He has spent almost his entire life alone, and it wouldn’t hurt to continue doing just so.  
Besides, falling in love with your soulmate basically means you’re stuck with them for your entire life. And if they don’t make you happy, you’re on the road to death, alone and hurt.  
Needless to say, Keith isn’t much of an optimist.  
Keith knew that the best option is to simply separate himself from Shiro, But you can’t simply separate yourself from your soulmate. The universe will always find a way to bring you back together with them. Keith had read several stories about it. People craved eternal life, so they avoided their soulmate as much as possible and stayed away from them. It never worked. Even if you choose to avoid your soulmate as much as possible, your fate is undeniable.  
There is only one sure way to get rid of your soulmate. Death.  
•  
It has been a few weeks since figuring out Shiro is his soulmate. He hadn’t told him, and he’s not sure if Shiro has figured it out yet.  
Keith knows what he has to do. He’s scared. Absolutely mortified. The thought of having a soulmate, being in love, dying, being hurt, all of those things terrify him.  
Part of him wants to live his life out like others do, fall in love and depend on that other person to make you happy.  
But then he remembers his mom walking out of the door, and his dad yelling, and the smashing of the vase, and once again he realizes what he needs to do.  
He feels terrible for Shiro. Shiro is probably like most people. He probably wants to live a life full of love and happiness, a life along side his soulmate. And Keith is about to ruin it for him.  
His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a doorbell ringing throughout his apartment. He grabs the blade his mother gave to him as a child, shoves it in his pocket, and goes to open the door. It’s Shiro.  
A lump forms in his throat as he walks along side the man, out of the building and on to the side walk.  
It’s nice outside, it’s the evening and the sun is just about to set. The weather is cool, but warm enough to wear a simple long sleeve shirt or light jacket. Keith is glad that Shiro will be able to enjoy the weather of his last day.  
Time passes as the two men chat and Joke, and night begins to fall. Keith knows if he’s going to do this, he has to do it soon.  
They approach an ally, and Keith takes the opportunity. “H-hey um, Shiro, did you see that over there?” He points towards the ally as he speaks.  
“Uhhh, no?” Shiro asks with confusion.  
“It-um- something moved over there” Keith can here the nerves in his voice as he speaks. And before Shiro can protest, Keith grabs his arm and leads him into the ally. There’s no turning back now.  
They walk through the ally and reach the end, nothing in sight.  
“Kei-“ Shiro’s words were cut off as Keith pinned him against the wall, fire in his eyes.  
At first, Shiro looks confused, but soon his expression turns to one of hunger and lust.

Oh god, he has no idea

The two boys look into each other’s eyes, both to afraid to make a move. That is until Shiro cups Keith’s face in his hand.  
Oh, no no no no bad bad abort mission abort mission.  
Before Shiro can do anything else, Keith swiftly grabs the knife from his pocket and holds it to Shiro’s throat.  
“Uhh... kinky?” Shiro suggests. Jesus Christ.  
“I- I’m sorry Shiro. But not quite.” Keiths voice cracks at the end of the sentence as he swiftly guides the knife across Shiro’s neck.  
As he watches Shiro’s half dead body coughing up blood, a look of sadness and regret on his face, Keith thinks only one thing.  
‘Now I definitely can’t die, for I’ll surely go to hell’


	2. Altea toy company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been several years since the murder of Shiro, so what is Keith up to now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah this second chapter came out fast. I was going to wait until Monday, but school got canceled today and honestly I’m so bored, so I decided to just write another chapter for this fic. I like the direction it’s going! I have spring break for the next 8 days, so I would expect a new chapter every other day or so (no promises) when school starts up again, new chapters will probably be more like once a week. Any way, hope you liked this chapter!

It had been 72 years since the killing of Shiro. Keith is still 18. Ever since he committed the crime, he hasn’t been able to stop. He’s killed three soulmates (or technically, his soulmate in three different forms) including Shiro, and he doesn’t plan to stop any time soon.

Keith has discovered three important things about himself so far. One, he’s amazing at hiding murders, believe it or not. When Shiro died, Keith cleaned up as much blood as he could with the gloves he was wearing and burned them. He buried his knife in the backyard so no one would be able to find it. He took several other precautions as well, making sure there was absolutely no evidence of what he had done.

He got away with it. They didn’t even bring him to court.

Another thing Keith discovered about himself was that he was extremely good at hiding from the government. When Shiro died at first, there was no reason for him to make any changes, people’s soulmates die, it happens all the time.

The second time, however, Keith knew that the government would start to get suspicious. He changed his name from Keith Marmora to Steve Gerald (he’s bad at names, okay) and right after he did it, he moved across the country. And yes, illegal identity theft may have been involved, but really that’s not nearly the worst of the crimes he’s committed. 

He stopped going to the doctors as well, as they would question where his older medical records are and, wow, that would be a huge mess. It’s now up to him and only him to figure out who his soulmates are.

The third time, about eighteen years ago, was the closest call he’s had so far. It took him 5 months to figure out who his soulmate was, and dear god he almost fell in love with them. He committed the crime as soon as he figured out, changed his name again, and booted to California. And that’s where he is now. He changed his first name back to Keith and his last to Kogane, and his next soulmate could be around any day now.

The third thing he has learned about himself is that he’s an extremely guilty person. He lives every day of his life feeling the burden of what he’s done in his shoulder.

Often times, he wishes he hadn’t killed Shiro. Often times, he wishes that they are together right now, sitting in an old age home, recalling memories of their love filled life. 

Things aren’t too bad though. He has a few mutuals he’s friendly with, and he enjoys the place he works. His boss, Allura, has taken kindly to him. Her Secretary, Coran, is a pretty nice guy to.

There’s also Hunk and Katie. He doesn’t know to much about them. Sometimes Hunk calls Katie Pidge, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Then there’s Lance. He’s new to the company, and dear got he’s the most annoying, teeth clenching person Keith has ever met. Gosh, they’ve only been working together for 5 days and Keith has never wanted to die more. All he does is flirt with Allura despite the fact she’s made it very clear she’s already met her soulmate, and they’re in a healthy relationship.

Sometimes Keith wishes he has that. A soulmate, a relationship.

Lance also seems to be extremely cocky, despite the fact he can rarely do anything right.

They work at toy company, Keith is the head of his team, over seeing the decisions of his coworkers. He also presents the team’s ideas to Allura. Lance comes up with ideas for new toys, Hunk deals with the marketing and advertising aspect of it, and Katie works on the mechanics and technical stuff of the toys. Lance always comes up with the most ridiculous ideas. He keeps insisting on making toy robot lions for some reason. It doesn’t even make sense, if Kids want to play with toy lions, they do. If kids want to play with robots, they do. Combining them together is impractical and unnecessary, but Lance doesn’t seem to care.

It’s no surprise he got fired from his last job.

•

As Keith walks into the Altea Toy company head corders he braces himself for the inevitable annoyance called Lance. Sure enough, He heres Lances distinct, obnoxious laugh as soon as he walks in the door.

“You’re late today, huh mullet.” As he speaks there’s a cocky tone in his voice. Katie raises her eyebrows at Lance and Hunk just gives him a deadpan stare. He looks exhausted.

“No, Lance, you’re just always late. This time you were early, and I came on time. Do you even know what time work starts” Keith crosses his arms and scrunches his eyebrows, frustrated with Lance’s stupidity. He gives a small sulk before getting defensive again.

“Yeah, well- well do you-“ it seems as though he’s attempting to give a come back, but is ultimately failing. Before he can think of anything to say, Allura walks in. 

“Alright team, I’m here to check up on you guys. Have you come up with any ideas yet?” Keith looks around at Hunk and Lance, gives a small sigh, and finally replies.

“No, sorry Allura. We’re stuck” Allura looks more disappointed then angry. She looks a bit like a mother looks when you tell her you’re failing you’re algebra class. 

“Keith, you’re the leader of this team, I expect better of you. We need to release a new toy, quick. Our sales our dropping. Do any of you have any ideas, any at all” she finishes her sentence by looking around the room in an expecting way.

“Well, actually, Allura, I have a fabulous idea! But Mr.Mullet over here won’t listen to it!” Oh great.

Lance goes on a tangent for a while pitching his idea about the robot lions. Keith can only hope she declines the idea, and Keith can work on a design that would actually be useful. To Keith’s disliking, however, Allura seems to love the idea. 

“Oh, lance, that’s actually a good idea, creative.” She speaks with a small, approving smile on her face. “So, it’s time to make a plan, Keith and Lance, you two work together on developing the idea a bit more. Hunk, I’d like to meet with you about helping to promote sales on some of our products. Katie, one of our other teams is developing an idea and need help with the technicalities of it, their technician isn’t here today, can you help?” Katie gives a small nod and walks swiftly out of the room. Hunk steps slightly closer to Allura, ready to follow her. Keith and Lance just glare at each other.

“Good luck team!” Allura yelps just before walking out of the room with Hunk, Leaving Keith and Lance alone.

“Let’s get to work, Mullet”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooohooooo it’s klance time. (Kinda) there wasn’t too much action this chapter cuz I wanted to give some background to what Keith has been doing and introduce some new characters. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, leave a kudos and a comment, and share with your friends!


	3. Sadness is easy to swallow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finally agrees to Lance’s toy Lion idea, and meanwhile has some contemplations about his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early Easter!! I probably won’t be updating tomorrow because it’s a holiday, so I’m saying this now. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Okay, I know you think this is a good idea Lance, but in all honesty, what kid would want to play with this” Lance has been babbling for hours about his toy robot lion things, and Keith is starting to get frustrated.

“Listen, Mullet I know you don’t like me, but can you at least open up to the idea? Maybe if you actually cooperated, we could come up with a groundbreaking toy. But you’re refusing to work with me!” Keith doesn’t want to admit it, but Lance does have a bit of a point. However, frankly, he still doesn’t understand why Lance is so insistent on this particular toy.

“Lance, can you at least tell me why you want to make this toy so badly?” Keith put a harsh tone in his voice, as he is growing impatient. When he doesn’t here a response, he looks up to Lance’s face, shocked to see how hurt he looks.

“I.... I don’t know. It’s just, I like the idea.” Keith can tell Lance is lying, but he doesn’t press further. Keith is Lances coworker, not his therapist. It’s probably something stupid, anyway.

“You know what Lance, fine. I’ll take a chance on this, but at least come up with a more intriguing concept for the toy. We already got transformers and legos, kids aren’t gonna want another version of that type of stuff unless it’s something special.” In all honestly, Keith doesn’t plan on actually accepting his idea, but he just wants Lance to leave him alone, regardless of what it takes.

Lance obviously can’t tell what Keith’s true thoughts are, as he’s grinning like a 5 year old who has just been told they can have their favorite candy bar or some ice cream.

“Wow Keith! Thank you- thank you so much- this is- Jesus Christ” Lance hops out of the room, yelling at the top of his lungs.

What the fuck

•

After a long day at work, Keith finally arrives home. He lives alone in a small apartment. He has no pets. It gets quite lonely sometimes. 

It’s a Friday, and all of his Coworkers are out in the town, probably getting drunk. He’d heard Katie and Lance talking about creating fake IDs earlier that weeks.It’s pretty easy to imagine what Lance is like drunk. He probably flirts ten times more than he usually does, if that’s even possible. Keith wonders if Lance would drunk-flirt with him. He probably would. Keith isn’t so sure how he feels about this.

Lance probably gets really reckless, too. Keith snorts at the thought of Hunk having to literally hold him back as he tries to do something completely reckless, and probably completely illegal, too.

Keith finds it pretty easy to figure out the type of person Lance is. He can make a good guess at how Lance acts in certain situations. But at the same time, Keith finds it extremely difficult to figure Lance out. Like how when certain things are mentioned, and Lance begins to mope for seemingly no reason.

Lance is a very complex person. Half of Keith wants to figure him out, the other half can barely tolerate Lance and wants to avoid him at all costs.

Keith walks over to the TV and watches the news. Many of it is the usual things. Reports on recent studies, civil rights issues across the world, and of course environmental issues.

That’s probably one of the biggest downsides of choosing eternal life via soulmate deaths. You live to see the world getting destroyed. Yes, you see the world improve, but you also see things getting worse. You also see the evil. The evil that Keith is part of.

Keith changes the channel to some cartoon and watches for a few minutes before turning the TV off and walking over to his kitchen. He has the same things in his fridge as he always has. He stares into the fridge before closing it and going upstairs. He’s not that hungry, anyway.

Keith washes his face vigorously. It sucks to have non stop teenage acne for decades. It sucks to be doing a lot of things for decades. It sucks to be on the run from the government. It sucks to have a fear of getting close to people because you know you will out live them. Loose them. But it’s to late now. Keith finds himself not being able to turn back.

And besides, there are still positive things in life. It’s better to remain lonely forever than to be in love only to get your heart broken. 

Keith has always lived the same way, keeping a comfortable distance. He is actually quite content with Loneliness. It is peaceful. Quaint. Keith doesn’t enjoy feeling the strong emotions and buzz you receive from being a sociable person.

It is true, of course, that with each soulmate he kills he begins to feel sadder. But it is a peaceful sadness. It is calm. Sadness is an easy emotion to feel. love and joy can be harder to swallow

Keith gives a small sigh before going to bed. He checks the time on his phone. 10:17PM. He goes through social media for a few minutes and begins to feel sleepy. 

However, before he can fall asleep, he sees an email notification on his phone. An email from Lance

 

From: Lance Andrew McClain  
Subject: Im smart mullet 

I just came up with an amazing idea. Come to my apartment now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a Kudos and a comment if you enjoyed this chapter :)


	4. Midnight ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out Keith isn’t as good at reading Lance as he originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I wasn’t going to post today but I get bored so easily. In fact I might post another chapter today but I’m not so sure yet. I have nothing to do. Save me.

Keith doesn’t know why he does it. He honestly doesn’t know what brought him to Lance’s apartment at 11 at night, where Lance is probably drunk out of his mind. But regardless of the reason, Keith is in fact at Lance’s apartment at near midnight.

He’s never been to Lance’s apartment before, he rarely visits anyone, as his family (at least the his family from when he was a young child) are mostly dead, and, as he’s said before, he doesn’t have many friends.

Keith doesn’t really know what he expects, but he does have a rough idea. Lance is probably in there with Hunk and Katie, coming up with some outrageous drunken idea while the two others tease at him.

It turns out that Keith isn’t so good at guessing what lance is like after all, however, because when he walks in the door, he sees almost the exact opposite of what he thought he would. Lance is sitting down at a desk with books, pens, and seemingly hundreds of papers with no source of light other than a small desk lamp.

“uh.. Lance?” Keith is hesitant to approach Lance, taking small, careful steps towards the boy as he speaks.

“Hm? Oh, hey Keith. Didn’t think you’d actually show up.” Lance doesn’t look up as he speaks, and he continues to focus on whatever he’s doing. 

“Do- do you want me to leave?” Lance finally looks up at him when Keith says those words, a look of slight confusion on his face. 

“No- no, you can stay. I’m just.... surprised. That’s all. That you would actually want to hear my idea.”

“Well, I have nothing better to do.” Lance’s spirit drops as Keith says those words, but doesn’t loose faith just yet.

“Yeah, uh that makes sense.” There is a long pause after those words come from Lance’s mouth, neither boys knowing what to say. “Well do you want to hear it? My idea?” Keith gives a small nod and Lance continues.

“Alright here I go...” 

Lance explains to Keith his grand idea on the robot-lions. He tells him he wants to make 5 versions, each with different colors and designs. He tells Keith that all 5 will be able to combine into one bigger robot (he’s leaving it to Katie to figure that out) he tells Keith that will motivate kids to buy every version. Or maybe they can make friends with different versions, and the kids can have fun combining Lions with their friends.

Keith finds it difficult to admit it to himself, but that’s actually a really, really good idea.

“That’s- that’s actually a good idea.” Keith mutters under his breath, hardly to able get the words out. Lance’s face lights up as soon as he says it.

“Have, have you been spending all night working on this?” Lances happy expression turns into an anxious one and he gives a small, nervous nod in reply. 

“That’s- but it’s Friday. Aren’t you supposed to be like, getting drunk or something?”

“I could say the same thing to you, mullet. Although you’re kind of a loner so it makes sense for you not to have a social life.” Keith decides to ignore the snarky remark.

“No I mean, I didn’t think you were this committed to this idea of yours.” 

“Well you’re wrong about a lot of things mullet. Maybe if people gave me an actual chance once in a while they would be surprised.” 

“Uh.. sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“No, no, it’s okay. I get it.” 

The two boys sit in silence for a while, staring at the floor. Keith is about to stand up and leave until Lance starts to speak up again.

“At my last job, and the job before that, and practically my entire life. People have never listened to me. I guess.... I guess you’re the only exception. Thank you.” Keith gives a small, sympathetic smile. Maybe Lance is a lot more capable than Keith originally assumed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo sorry this chapter was pretty short, there just wasn’t to much necessarily going on to make it longer, and I didn’t want Lance going to deep into his backstory and emotions (yet) so uh, yeah. Also by the way have you guys noticed there’s an Easter egg in every chapter, a lyric from the song “The Only Exeption” by Paramore. If you find the one for this chapter, comment it below.


	5. Lance’s voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few days after Keith and Lances midnight conversation, Lance shares even more ideas. Keith finds himself concentrating on aspects of Lance other than his ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I’m not dead! That’s right, I’m back. To be completely honest I’m dealing with a lot right now. I’m trans and at the moment I’m dealing with coming out to my entire extended family. Needless to say I’m been stressed and very busy. This chapter is pretty short and is mostly just a look into Keith’s thoughts towards Lance. The next chapter is gonna be much more exiting, and much longer. Anyway, sorry for the wait and enjoy this chapter.

It has been a few days since Keith went to Lance’s house. The two boys had talked so long that Keith didn’t get home until 3 am, and when he did, he passed out in his car before he was even able to get into his house.

And of course because he was as tired as he was, he didn’t wake up until 2PM on Saturday. Keith knew that meant his sleep schedule is going to be thrown off for at least another few days.

Now of course, it’s Monday morning and Keith has to get to work. He is interested to see if Lance has worked on his idea anymore. It still surprises Keith that Lance would be so dedicated to something.

Keith’s always assumed that he knows people well. But maybe he doesn’t know them as well as he thought. Or maybe Lance is just a complicated person, more so than others. 

As Keith walks into the toy company, he notices it’s mostly empty. It’s not surprising, he is here 20 minutes early after all.

He walks into his office prepared to do nothing but sit in his office seat and ponder his work as he usually does when he sees Lance siting on his desk.

“LANCE” Keith yells in surprise and Lance falls off the desk. Keith can’t help but snort.

“Wh- oh, uh sorry Keith.” Lance’s expression goes from shocked to nervous, and then to doubtful.

“Oh, see, um” Lance stutters as he speaks, clearly nervous. “I went into the office early today to make sure, um, that I could catch you as soon as possible. I have some new ideas.” Lance gradually becomes less awkward as he continues to talk.

“Alright, cool, what do you have?” Keith is casual in his speech, opposite of Lance. Keith is opposite of Lance in a lot of ways, but Keith is starting to realize maybe they can work to combine their opposite personalities rather than clash them.

Lance clears his throat, flips through his journal and begins to explain the idea. 

“Well, I’ve come up with a story for the toys. Make it more interesting, right? Well, uhm, here it goes. So I was thinking that they could be like, space robots, You know?” Lance looks up and Keith and gives him an anxious look. When Keith doesn’t respond, he continues on.

“Well, there are enemies. Alien enemies! And they try and take over lots of planets, but the lions can stop them! And I was thinking maybe even we can make toys of the enemy ships. More profit, right?” As Lance continues with his idea, he becomes a lot more confident, previous anxiety fading away. 

Keith finds himself on the border of loosing focus as he begins to focus less on Lances words and more on the sound of them. The way he has an odd mixture of confidence, passion, excitement and even a bit of doubt in his voice. His words roll eloquently off his tongue, smooth and swift. 

Keith catches himself, luckily, making sure he has a tight grip on reality once again. Lance finally finishes his explication and Keith looks at him, silence between the two.

Keith knows what he wants to tell him. The truth, that it’s an excellent work and with some improvements could possibly become better than any idea Keith has come up with himself. But something in Keith doesn’t want himself to say that. Won’t let himself say that. The part of Keith that turns people away, the part of Keith that wants to keep Keith alone. So he finds himself saying something else. Something subtle. 

“It’s fine, it could use some work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Did you see the song reference this chapter? It was very subtle.


	6. Office Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith ponders his social life, and receives a note from Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS IM BACK. it's been, wow, probably a year since I last posted an actual chapter. Its honestly baffling. I don't know how many of you will actually come back to read this. But we'll see. 
> 
> So, I guess I owe a more detailed explanation. I have clinical depression, and this time last year it was getting really, really bad. But I'm so much better now. It shows in every part of my life. And over all im just a happier, more productive person.
> 
> To be honest, I forgot about this fic. But yesterday, I was scrolling through one of the tags this fic and is under and found it. I read through it and I have motivation to start this story up again.
> 
> Admittedly, this chapter is short, but it's mostly just yo show you guys I'm up and back at it again. So here we go!

It had been a week since Lance and Keith's conversion in his office. Lance had been working non stop on his idea. 

There was a few technicalities to be worked out. They ditched the idea of the alien enemies, at least for now. Hunk suggested that it's better to come out with one thing at a time, and add on to it later. Pouring tons of products out at once centered around a concept they didnt know kids would like might might not be the best financial decision. Everyone agreed, even Lance (reluctantly)

Speaking of Lance, Keith doesnt mind him so much anymore. Yeah, hes still annoying, but at least he has some passion in him (even if being passionate about toys was admittedly a bit strange. Most people are just passionate about the business aspect.)

Keith even finds himself opening up a little. Not much. Not more than he had with others in the past. Its little things, like what television programs he likes and what his favorite book is. Mundane things. Normal things.

Lance is happy to talk about that stuff with Keith though. That's just the way Lance is. He'll talk to anyone about anything.

Still, despite the friendliness, Lance and Keith don't talk outside of work. Keith is okay with that. He is. Really. He has other things to do with his time, like wallow in regret and misery about his own previous, very much illegal actions.

Yeah. Okay. Keith needs some friends.

But, he doesn't know where to start. He's never really had many friends before. A few mutuals, faces he can't remember, who he would talk to occasionally. But besides his soulmate forms, that was it. Keith has always found ways to make it alone. And to keep a straight face, pretend as though he didnt get lonely.

So Keith kept waiting. Waiting for Lance to say something. Do something.

And he got lucky.

"Keith, do you want to come with me, Pidge, and Hunk after work to dinner tonight? Pidge wants to discuss some of the mechanics of the toys with us. See ya later ;) -Lancy Lance"

A note posted on the door of his office.


	7. Drunk Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isnt what Keith was expecting. At all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a longer chapter for today.

The bar is crowded, loud, and full of drunk people. Not what Keith was hoping for.

They were supposed to go out to talk about work. So, naturally, Keith assumed they would be going to a calm, quiet place where they could focus.

But this is Lance. Keith should have known better.

Speaking of Lance, Keith can't find him. All Keith knows is that he was supposed to show up at this adress at 7o'clock. Its 7:15, and Keith still can't find Lance. Or Hunk. Or Katie. 

Well, okay. He has to be honest here. He probably hasnt found them because he hasn't done a great job of looking. He's just been standing here by the door, glancing around nervously.

When the clock turns to 7:20, Keith makes up his mind. He takes a deep breath, closes and opens his eyes, and walks towards the bar. No one. Well. Theres people, but not the people hes looking for.

He shoves his way past a drunk couple making out and heads towards the tables. There, finally, he sees Hunk. With a breath of relief he goes to sit down.

"Woah man, it's not even that late and you already look exhausted. Are you okay?" Keith looks up at Hunk, exasperated, expression screaming "are you fucking serious? How could you not be in this place" and opens his mouth to speak.

"Where's Lance?" He doesnt really mean for it to come out sounding rude, okay? But it's not like Keith has had much casual social interaction for the past 50 years or so. 

Hunks eyebrows furrow a bit, slightly frustrated that his question was never even answered. Although, Keith's exasperated expression and biting tone is answer enough

"Oh, he said he was going to go dance a bit while he waited for you. Said you were taking too long. Oh, and Pidge is in the bathroom, if you were wondering. She should be back soon."

Keith somewhat ignores the second half of Hunks statement, only caring about the part about Lance. Seriously? He came here to talk about work. Not to babysit a most likely drunk, irresponsible Lance.

"Sorry Hunk, m'gonna go find him." Keith sighs as he pushes himself away from the table. "See you soon."

Keith arrives at the dance floor, pushing himself past probably hundreds of people to find Lance at the center of it, twirling around some girl.

"LANCE." Keith calls at him, running towards him and grabbing his arm, attempting to pull him away. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

They both shout it at the same time, at each other, before both turning towards Lance's previous dancing partner and apologizing (again, at the same time as eachother) She didn't look happy. Well, neither was Keith.

He tugs Lance's arm and practically drags him towards the table Hunk (and now Katie as well, she must be back from the bathroom) is sitting at. He sits in the booth and drags Lance along with him.

"Alight, so since we're finally all where we're supposed to be" Keith bits out, glaring at Lance as he speaks. "Who the hell wants to explain why they thought going to a crowded, loud, musky bar to discuss work would be a good idea??" Lance blushes while Katie and Hunk stare at Keith with confused expressions.

"Um....we didn't come here to discuss work...we just came here to hang out." Katie speaks with an eyebrow raised and Hunk nods along.

Keith whips his head around towards Lance, who looks nervous. "Lance, care to explain why you lied to me about us having work to discuss to get me to come to a stingy bar with you and your friends? I have more important things to be doing." (That's a lie. He really doesn't) 

Lance glances at Katie and Hunk before speaking. "Well, I just figured that there really wasn't any other way to get you to come out tonight. I mean, no offence man, but you really need to lossen up. Grab a drink or something"

Keith relaxes a bit before speaking. He hates to admit it, but Lance might, maybe, just might have a point. He can't remember the last time he's done anything for fun.

"Alright Lance, fine. If you insist. Doubt youd let me get out of it, anyway." Lance grins and shrugs his shoulders before Keith continues to speak. "I can't drink any alchohol though. Im still 18. Technically, anyway." Keith looks down at the table as he admits the fact, not wanting to be reminded of his eternal predicament.

"Oh, that's fine dude, same." Lance says. "I'm 18, too. So is Katie. But Hunk on the other hand, is 22, he met his soulmate a while back. So maybe..." Lance turns his head toward Hunk, smirking. "Hunk will be extra extra nice and buy some drinks that he could *subtly* slide over to us?" Lanve winks and Hunk looks uncertain.

"You know I don't like doing this Lance...especially for you. I mean, you aren't even just technically 18 like Pidge is. You're just plain 18."

"Oh come on Hunk, that's not really true...I would be turning 19 next month of I've met my soulmate."

"Yeah. So still 18. In every aspect" 

"Oh come on Hunk, please? Just a couple drinks? I'll be fine."

"Okay...just this once. But only 3 drinks max. Got it? Same with Pidge, since she'd only be 19 right now if she had met her soulmate. I don't know about Keith though."

"Oh uh..." Keith isnt sure how to tell these people he's been alive for nearly a century. "As I said, still technically 18, but I've been alive for more than 21 years."

"Aw man." Lance says. "That must suck. 3 years since you turned 18 and you still haven't met your soulmate? Although, my parents went almost 4 years before they met eachother"

Keith looks down and doesn't reply. If only they knew. 

Hunk clears his throat "Okay, so, I guess I'll just order some drinks now. Beers to start off?" Everyone nods their head. 

•

Keith is drunk. Like, drunk drunk. Lance isnt sure how many drinks hes had, but he doesnt look good. He's lying down on the booth seat. Laughing to himself a little.

Lance wanted Keith to loosen up, but not to this extent.

"Uh Keith, are you okay?" Keith giggles to himself a bit more and looks up at Lance.

"Yeah, Lancey, don't worry. I've got a tightttt grip on reality. It's all good. I'm Mr. Serious, remember?" He makes a face, as if to mock himself, and then throws himself into another laughing fit.

Of all things, Lance never expected Keith to be a giggly drunk.

"Alright Keithey boy, you're clearly out of it. Looks like you're going home with me."


End file.
